Unlike his father, Louis XIV wasn't easily swayed by courtiers' opinions but eager to put France on the map, he loved having his ego stroked, so this is how the legend of the 'Sun King' was born. His mother is not a victim but someone who as politically astute like Henry IV's second wife, Marie de Medici. They weren't the idiot and the power behind the throne but two equally opportunistic, sniveling individuals who disagreed on several issues but came together because they knew that their best chance of staying in power was to rely on one another. It was refreshing to see how Desmond Seward deconstructed Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu. The other Kings were also great to read, but with Henry IV being part of the Tudor period, he takes precedence over his son -and to some extent, his grandson- so people see him in a more nuanced view as opposed to them, whom everyone assumed everything they see in their favorite shows and movies about them is correct.
My favorite parts were on Louis XIII and Louis XIV. This book illustrated more of the lesser known details about them, and also dispelled plenty of myths surrounding them, without white-washing or glossing over their mishaps. Most of what I knew about them was the basics, dates, who was who and that's it. I have never been into the Bourbon dynasty. There's many things I learned from this book. Spiced with scandalous contemporary gossip, here is a splendidly readable book.
Desmond Seward sets them in historical perspective, each with his entourage of generals, cardinals and whores, wrestling Vith a haughty aristocracy and financial crisis.
They begin with the dashing figure of Henri IV, with his courage, gaiety and sixty-four mistresses they include figures such as the Sun King Louis XIV and Louis XVI who ended under the guillotine they close with the little-known "Henri V" - expected to return and rule France in 1873 but whose refusal to abandon the Lily banner of the Bourbons for the Tricolore finally lost the throne. They emerge from a shadowy line of medieval princes in 1589 to rule France for over 200 years, dominating Europe, launching an endless series of wars, creators of the dazzling splendour of Versailles, survivors from the holocaust at the French Revolution. "Licentious or bigoted, noble or ignoble", wrote Nancy Mitford, "there has seldom been a dull Bourbon." The story of the Bourbon kings encompasses the two most glorious and turbulent centuries in French history, yet surprisingly, this is still the only narrative account of the dynasty for the general reader.
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